


The Distance Between (is the Diameter of a Campfire and Eternity)

by BasicallyAnIdiot



Series: Transit Drabbles [3]
Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Anna is a Rebel, F/M, Kratos is a War God
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2020-12-27 06:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21113951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BasicallyAnIdiot/pseuds/BasicallyAnIdiot
Summary: It took him a week to realize Anna was watching him.





	The Distance Between (is the Diameter of a Campfire and Eternity)

**Author's Note:**

> Follows 'Times of Trouble'. In short, Anna isn't stupid and calls out Kratos.

**The Distance Between (is the Diameter of a Campfire and Eternity)**

It takes him a week to realize Anna was watching him. 

They had been careful with their movements since the forest, slowed by wounds and caution. There was no destination- just anywhere that would avoid bringing them to the attention of the Tethe’allans. He knew, in the way a human would know up from down, that the Sylvarant army held the line a few kilometres from the border- a place of stagnation since Tethe’alla broke through Sylvarant’s advance and pushed them back- capturing and ransacking Luin as they did. Now it was everything Sylvarant could manage to hold them there.

Noishe should be reporting back soon with the details, unless Yuan convinced the hound to report to him first. The hound was loyal, always had been and always would be, but Yuan didn’t see any reason not to spoil him. Noishe would return to Kratos, but he might take the longer route.

They were camping on the edge of the desert, hidden by red cliffs and far away from anywhere a sane general would bring an army. A small fire crackled happily in one corner of the makeshift pit, the rest held glowing embers. A tin kettle and pot were suspended over the warm glow, water coming to a boil as a hardy stew simmered. Venison and root vegetables promised a filling meal, enough to ward off the cold of the blooming night.

Overhead, the stars he were bright in dark velvet skies. Humans considered the stars eternal. He knew better. They changed slowly- every so often Kratos would see an old, silent friend vanish. Or watch as a new one flickered into being. The night sky was alive with the breath that built the world and the universe around it, the stars a speckled tapestry.

He dropped his gaze to the stew as the thick broth bubbled happily. The rabbits they’ve had hunted during the day had been cooking for hours now. Steam started to flee the kettle in a tiny stream. Anna was staring at him from across the campfire. Her knees tucked up against her, and an expression he couldn’t read on her face. One that he had caught from the corner of his eye frequently, “What?”

She shifted, slowly tilting her head to peer at him. Warm chocolate eyes reflecting the glow of the fire. Anna frowned softly, “I saw him.”

She paused, licking her lips as if to taste her words, ”That fighter from Mizuho, they pulled a knife across your throat.” 

Unease twisted deep, breath caught in his throat. His hope had been Anna hadn’t seen it- she had been injured, in pain, and he didn’t have time to get out of the situation like a human would. If it had even been possible to escape as a human. No blade could cut him, not unless it was made by divine hands and those were rare and far between. 

He could tell her. Tell the truth of the Unnamed War God- of a god bound to the earth as long as war raged. Playing the part of a human, wandering for lack of anything better to do. The battlefields were one and the same as time dragged on. The thrill of the fight had been mutated to something desperate and bloody- the thrill extinguished as people fought for their lives.

How though? How could he do it? What words did he have to explain away the depth of lies he had built. 

“You don’t have to tell me.” Anna continued, biting her bottom lip, and looking away to the horizon. “You just- you don’t have to hide it. At least not around me.” 

The honesty, clear and apparent in her voice, surprised him. “Are you sure?”

She looked back at those quiet words, then nodded. 

Was it really so simple? That she would accept him as he was- no questions asked? Unease remained, coiled in his gut. To say it was one thing. The kettle whistled.

He stood up, his hand hesitated only a moment over the rags they had been using to handle the fire and tin pots, before moving past the makeshift counter of an old crate. The tea pot had been prepared early, the blend flinched from Tethe’allan stores.

Anna blinked, mouth opening- perhaps to scold or warn- but shut it immediately when he gripped the kettle’s metal handle and lifted it off the dangling hook of the tripod. Steam drifted up, covering the hand holding it. Warm, but not burning. Not to him. 

Their campsite was was silent as he prepped the tea. Steeping the leaves. Warming the cups. Filling the cups.

Picking up the mugs of tea, one in each hand and warm to his touch, he moved slowly around the fire to Anna. Now, now with such a display of his immortality between them, she watched him like a hawk. 

Crouching down, he held out one cup to her and met her stare with one of his own. That close it was impossible to miss the freckles splashed across her cheeks and bridge of her nose. She said she had broken it twice when she was younger, leaving a tiny bend and bump to an otherwise delicate feature. Rosy cheeks, softness now sharp after months on the road evading trouble, spoke of the night’s chill- one he couldn’t feel. Among the brown of her eyes, speckles of amber, warming the shade. 

As quiet as before, cup steaming in his grasp, he asked, “Are you sure?”

Anna swallowed. Seconds passed. She set her jaw, and nodded once. Fearless as always. Her hand, wrapped in cloth in lieu of mittens, accepted the cup. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a chatty author and love comments- please feel free to leave one if you like! I will respond. 
> 
> Or come say 'hi' on[ Tumblr!](https://basicallyanidiot.tumblr.com/)


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